MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo remembers what people thought of him nine years ago, when the Miami Heat drafted a then-teenager out of Kentucky after his lone college season.
"I'm someone who got drafted to play defense, and everybody thinking I was just a lob threat," Adebayo said.
He's evolved since.
Adebayo joined Dwyane Wade as the only 10,000-point scorers in Heat history Sunday night. Adebayo entered the night 23 points shy of the milestone; he got 24, helping Miami to a 121-110 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.
Adebayo — the Heat captain, a title they take seriously in Miami — is on pace to average at least 18 points per game for the sixth consecutive season. He made four 3-pointers Sunday night, giving him 94 for the season and matching his total from the last two seasons combined.
"Just shows the growth of my game," Adebayo said. "Obviously, this organization believes in me. I've been here that long so I can get 10K with the same team. And obviously, being in the history books behind somebody like D-Wade, it's a great accomplishment."
He's got a long way to go to catch Wade, who scored 21,556 points for the Heat. But there is another mark well within Adebayo's reach.
Adebayo is second on the Heat rebound charts behind the player he replaced as captain, Udonis Haslem. He has an outside chance of catching Haslem by the end of this season — he would need 207 rebounds in Miami's final 17 games — and has said that's the only record he's really chasing.
And he's still, without question, the anchor of Miami's defense. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra regularly touts him as a defensive player of the year candidate, but the scoring is not overlooked.
"He came in not known necessarily as a scorer," Spoelstra said. "He's worked and willed himself into that. And for this particular team, his scoring is really important."
